Yusef Fenestrate/IF-28.114

Rumor / Community Lore
This article contains lore created collaboratively by the Blaseball community. It is just one of many Rumors that we've found in the Interdimensional Rumor Mill. You can find more Rumors about Yusef Fenestrate at their Rumor Registry.

Fenestrate is a Black Muslim Egyptian who uses any pronouns. In Japanese, xe refers to ximself as watashi and others refer to xim with masculine and feminine terms interchangeably, and in Arabic xe is likewise referred to with هي/هو interchangeably. Xe is autistic and has ADHD.

Early Life

Born in Luxor, Egypt, Fenestrate spent much of xis youth wandering the city and lingering near its historical and archaeological sites. As xe grew up, xe began hearing what xe described as a form of music that could not be heard with one’s ears. When asked how one could hear music, if not with one's ears, xe was vague, saying “I dunno, I just kind of hear it with my face, you know? The normal way you hear stuff like that.” Xe has since described this phenomenon as “the universe’s symphony of resonant mundanities,” or as xe more affectionately deems it, “some real rad tunes.”

Xe started school for physics, thinking xe might be better able to share the music with others if xe studied the forces that make up the immaterial plane. Fenestrate began xis studies in Morocco and then returned to Egypt to transfer to a university in Cairo, but soon after the move xe grew completely disillusioned with academia. Xe decided xe would benefit more from self-education that was built for xis way of learning instead of in spite of it, and dropped out to pursue xis own studies.

Freed from academia but inspired by xis time in Morocco, Fenestrate sought any and all opportunities to travel and see more of the world. Meanwhile, xis efforts to find a mentor in physics were fruitful as xe came into contact with acclaimed mathematician and buff fitness buff Stijn Strongbody. The two spent some time exchanging mail about their theories. Fenestrate’s interests eventually shifted and xe became more fascinated with the history of objects and how their songs change with the events that occur in their presence, and xe dropped contact with Strongbody as xis research took xim from physics to history. Through the following years Fenestrate went through an intense punk phase, learned to play the piano, synths, and accordion, and moved to Tokyo. There, xe started rooming with future teammate Coolname Galvanic, discovered xe was aromantic after attempting to date Galvanic and breaking up on amicable terms, and came out as genderfluid.

Blaseball Career

After Strongbody performed what some on the Lift would later wistfully refer to as some “epic future vision math,” the events of 1997 allowed him to catch glimpses of the future where he recognized his former protege Fenestrate among the players on the yet-unformed team. The void left by the Ascension of the Baltimore Crabs and his rush to create the team of his vision prompted him to contact xim, asking whether xe would like to join. Hoping to hear Blaseball’s own unique symphonic soundscape in person, Fenestrate accepted.

Xis performance since joining the Lift has been somewhat underwhelming. Fenestrate has told reporters that the sound of a home run is like no other, and despite xis clear skill in the splort and excellent plate discipline, xe is often so focused on achieving hits with that particular resonance that xe ends up making poor contact with the ball. Xis batting career has been a long series of home runs, groundouts and flyouts, and xe is rarely actually seen on base where xe would be able to demonstrate xis baserunning prowess. Even so, xe easily remained one of the team’s better batters through the first half of the Expansion Era.

Time Spent Elsewhere

During the Lift’s final game of Season 14, Fenestrate was swept Elsewhere, and was there for the entirety of the two-year long siesta. Several months after xis return, a reporter stopped xim on the street and xe commented on a peculiar quality of the space:

“[The world] has always been a place of music to me. Every object... every being resonates with its own particular sound to create an impossible symphony beyond anything our ears can sense. Rubber-insulated wires and decomposing bark alike sing in languages I can’t really ever hope to translate for you. So while you may not quite understand the gravity of the situation, I’ll ask you to at least try to imagine what was going through my head when I was Elsewhere and everything was silent. I’ve never really experienced that before... It shook me. Yeah. I’d say it shook me far more than I would have expected.”

Despite maintaining xis usual laid-back countenance and deliberate speech patterns, xis speech became notably slower and more prone to trailing off in the middle of a sentence, and xe has conducted few talks at the Lift’s community center since xis return.

Captainship

After the respective redaction and incineration of Lift vice-captain Lance Serotonin and captain Strongbody, Fenestrate and Gerund Pantheocide replaced them as co-captains of the Lift. While Pantheocide leapt to the task, Fenestrate found ximself thrust into the position almost by surprise as xis teammates went to xim for xis level-headed judgement and advice. While on their own, Pantheocide was too quick to follow their heart and commit wholeheartedly to the task at hand without adequately thinking things through, Fenestrate was too reluctant to commit to any course of action when so many options were available. Together, Pantheocide pulled Fenestrate out of xis comfort zone to make decisions and commit, and Fenestrate directed Pantheocide's seemingly boundless energy in more productive ways. Having previously bonded over a shared love of punk music and culture, the two further bonded through the consistent push and pull of their joint leadership that propelled the Lift forwards to their first Championship in Season 19, and became fast friends.

The high of their Turntables-induced Championship did not last for long, as the Lift experienced four roster changes in one election, Pantheocide received her first level of Ego, and Fenestrate had one of xis worst-performing seasons up until xe was swept Elsewhere on Day 59. Fenestrate arrived back, newly Negative and heavily Scattered for the first time, shortly before Pantheocide's death. After a short period of mourning, Fenestrate set xis grief aside and quietly announced that xe was unfit to act as sole captain of the Lift, and advised the team against appointing a replacement in light of the demise of the previous three captains.

The Fifth Base

In Season 22, Fenestrate picked up the Fifth Base in a game against the Georgias at the very last moment, tying the game up, but put it back down in the Gym the next day, right before Super Roamin' was due to send xim to another team. Fenestrate declined to comment on what drove xim pick up the base in the first place, and what made xim change xis mind.

Relationships

As a generally good-natured and mellow-mannered individual, Fenestrate has few troubles getting along with most members of the Lift.

Despite their previous acquaintance, Fenestrate and Strongbody remained somewhat distant and awkward up until Strongbody's incineration. Xe once admitted to feeling that he still just saw xim as the kid he mentored rather than the person that kid has become.

Xe continues to co-inhabit xis old apartment with Galvanic, and the two have a close partnership. Additionally, xe has what has been described as a "complicated" relationship with Grollis Zephyr, rents a makerspace in Tokyo with Concrete Mandible, Terrell Bradley, and Theodore Honeywell, and xe has also been recorded referring to the twice-late Alejandro Leaf as xis aunt on several occasions despite sharing no publicly-known familial connections. Fenestrate taught Persephone "Percy" Violence to use henna while she was still on the Lift, and they still meet up after Lift/Tigers series to get coffee and refresh each others' henna (Fenestrate) and paint (Violence).

Trivia

• Although Fenestrate is recorded as having the "Tattooing" pregame ritual, this may be a clerical error: xe actually does henna, as tattooing is haram.
• Fenestrate is a polyglot. Xe is fluent in Egyptian Arabic, Classical Arabic, English, Japanese, ESL, and JSL, and xe has learned the basics of Spanish, Mandarin, and Hindi both from xis teammates and from traveling prior to joining the Lift.
• Fenestrate takes a lot of comfort in cooking, and occasionally calls home for recipes from xis aunts.
• In an interview, Fenestrate stated that if xe was to compete in any non-blaseball splort, xe would like to swim professionally.
• Fenestrate is a skilled glassblower. Xe makes xis own glass masks and windows, wearing different windows for different outfits and occasions. In particular, xe wears masks that incorporate the Evil Eye into the design during solar eclipses as a ward. Xe also has made Evil Eye necklaces and bracelets for all xis teammates.
• Fenestrate is a hobbyist composer and multi-instrumentalist. Xis music is often esoteric, relying as much on the sonic texture inherent to objects as on more traditional musical instruments.